Pain is an unpleasant sensation localized to a part of body. It is a subjective experience, hard to define quantitatively. Chronic pain is an affliction of millions of patients and is associated with comorbidities such as depression and anxiety. Current standard of care for pain management includes Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like Ibuprofen and Opioid analgesics such as Pentazocine. NSAIDs are effective analgesics and are very frequently used as overthe-counter (OTC) medication. Opioids are the most potent analgesics and provide a rapid and sustained pain relief. Adjuvant analgesics include anti-depressants, anti-convulsants etc. Fluoxetine is a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) used mainly as an anti-depressant. Previous studies on the efficacy of Fluoxetine for pain management have imparted us with conflicting data. Hence this present study was carried out with a view to elucidate its analgesic action and to compare it with standard drugs like Ibuprofen and Pentazocine. AIMS: The present study was conducted with the following objectives in mind: 1) To evaluate analgesic activity of Fluoxetine. 2) To compare analgesic activity of Fluoxetine with Ibuprofen and Pentazocine. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Materials: Adult albino rats, Eddy's Hot-plate, Tuberculin syringe. Drugs: Ibuprofen, Pentazocine and Fluoxetine. The study was carried out from 1 st to 9 th August, 2011 at the Department of Pharmacology, MR Medical College, Gulbarga. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Though Fluoxetine has significant analgesic properties as demonstrated by our study, but when compared with standard analgesics like Ibuprofen and Pentazocine, it is found lacking. From the present study it is apparent that Fluoxetine has significantly high activity in central-analgesic model i.e. Hot-plate method.

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